


The Lich and The Reaper

by RileyAurelia



Series: Lup the Amnesiac Elf [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, What class is Barry even
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:34:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24480604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyAurelia/pseuds/RileyAurelia
Summary: Barry crash lands as a lich in the middle of nowhere and plans to track down Lup. A new enemy throws a wrench into that plan.
Series: Lup the Amnesiac Elf [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/946041
Kudos: 2





	The Lich and The Reaper

A man in a crimson red robe falls from the sky. The burn marks on his chest and blood dripping from his mouth imply he was dead long before finally making a loud, violent contact with the ground below him. A few moments later, the spectral form of the same man’s undead soul makes a much softer, much more graceful landing just a few feet from where his corpse had. The specter, still wearing phantasmal robes that matched the corporeal ones he had worn while alive, glanced at his dead body and groaned exhaustedly before looking back up at the sky he had just fallen through.

“Thanks, Taako. I’m sure blasting me like that couldn’t have been easy.” The spirit sighed bitterly, his voice coarse and dripping with exhaustion. “I’ll be able to keep on looking for Lup now that I’m a lich, but finding her without the Starblaster’s resources or anyone to help me search… This is going to take some work.”

He started to float over to his dead body, muttering to himself, “At least I had the good sense to gather up some of my notes before I ‘left.’ Hopefully some of it survived the…”

The liches voice trailed off as he saw a rift in space tear open a few meters in front of him. Necrotic energy flowed from his hands as a tall dark-skinned man wearing a long black robe and wielding a rather ornate scythe in one hand and a partially unspooled scroll in the other stepped out of the rift, which promptly disappeared behind him.

The man hadn’t yet looked at the spirit before him, instead focusing entirely reading from the scroll he was carrying. “Let’s see here, ‘Barold Bluejeans,’ is it?” The man said in a horribly fake British accent, squinting a bit as he read the name. “Sorry to tell you friend, but you are dead. If you could just come with me?”

“Uh, just Barry is fine, actually.” The lich corrected, “and if it’s all the same with you pal I’d rather not go anywhere with you, I don’t really know who you are and frankly I got some important stuff to take care of, so thanks but no thanks I’m just gonna be on my way.”

The man sighed. “So you’re one of those then. Listen friend, I hate to tell you this, but-” Finally looking up from his scroll he turns to face Barry, then blinks in moderate surprise. “Wait, a lich? Oh god you know you’re dead! This kind of thing doesn’t fly here pal, you need to come with me to the Astral Plane now, or it’s off the Eternal Stockade with you.”

“I just told you, I have important business to take care of.” Barry says, clenching his fists as his form flickers slightly. _Keep it together, Bar. You gotta find Lup, don’t lose your cool over this guy._ Taking a beat to compose himself, Barry continues, “I’ve gotta find someone and make sure she’s safe. Once I do, sure, I’ll come along with you to whatever fuckin ‘Stockade’ you want, but right now you can beat it, I’m busy.”

The man widens his eyes and shouts, “Now look here, you obviously know how being a lick works, you’re already destabilizing! You’re coming with me whether you like it or not!”

The man puts away the scroll in his pocket as he steps forward and brandishes his scythe, and as he does so his skin begins to melt away, revealing a skull with glowing red eyes underneath.

Seeing this display, Barry raises his arms and shouts, “Bad idea pal!” before casting Turn Undead on his apparent foe.

The Reaper falters in his stride as the spell connects with him, but he is otherwise unphased. He looks down and smooths out his robes before looking back at Barry, looking more annoyed than anything else.

“Did you really think that would work?” he yelled in disbelief, “I’m the bloody Grim Reaper, and you tried to cast Turn Undead on me? And what kind of Cleric decides to become a lich, anyway? Aren’t your lot all about the sanctity of life and death, and you go and violate it like this?”

 _How strong is this guy that I didn’t do anything but annoy him?_ Barry thinks to himself, no longer confident in his ability to win the duel he’s found himself in. _I better bug out before I get got AGAIN._

Seeing Barry begin to cast another spell, the Reaper begins moving toward him again. “Oh no, you only get one of those pal and that was it, now your time on this plane is spent and you’re coming with me!” He loudly proclaimed, raising his scythe above his head.

Just as he begins to bring the scythe down on Barry’s spectral form, it vanishes. His scythe soars through the air and digs into the dirt below where his mark was just previously floating. The Reaper groans in exasperation at his folly and begins to pull the scythe out of the dirt.

“The hell kind of a Cleric can cast Teleport?” he muttered to himself, finally dropping his embarrassing attempt at an accent.

Elsewhere, Barry reappears and breathes a sigh of relief that there was no longer a scythe hanging above his ghostly head.

“Jeez, why did this world have to have a Grim Reaper policing the laws of life and death? Doesn’t he realize some things are more important than dying?” He moaned. “Now I’m gonna have to lay low while I look for Lup and make sure I don’t get carted off to the Astral Plane? And I didn’t even manage to grab my notes before that jerk showed up! Could this day get any worse?”

Collecting himself, Barry looks around to take in his surroundings and find out where he teleported to. “The Felicity Wilds? I guess I did leave the Animus Bell around here, makes sense I’d think of this area when panicking like that. Can’t exactly go back to the Starblaster. Maybe I can find a cave to bunker down in for a bit.”

Having found his resolve, Barry picks a direction and floats off to find some shelter, unknowingly floating away from an unconscious Sun Elf wearing a bright crimson robe that matched his own perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> And now for something different! This is still part of the Lup: The Amnesiac Elf story, but it's (obviously) not focused on Lup. This was a side story I wanted to have as canon for this AU since I first came up with it and now felt like a good opportunity to write it and get the creative juices flowin again, I hope y'all like this story too!


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